You can send The Chicago American Heart Association hats directly right up until January 15, 2015 though, so even if you cannot mail something this month, don't let that stop you.
Hats must be:
- RED
- cotton or acrylic
- medium to heavy weight
- machine washable and dryable
I had some super soft red acrylic that fit the bill so I set to work and made a three from a few different patterns. All these hats take about 45 min to an hour to make, so you really have no excuse not to make a few.
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| Newborn Crochet Hat |
This hat pattern was one suggested from AllFreeCrochet.com. It takes about an hour to make. After Row 12 it doesnt really say how to make the rest of the fold up brim. I am assuming you could just do as many rows of sc around as you like till you are satisfied with how it looks when folded up. So after Row 12 I did one row of hdc around and one more of a shell edging to make it look a little nicer.
Shell row is: chain 1, sc 1, *skip 1 sc, 5dc in next stitch, skip 1 stitch, sc in next*, repeating around.
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| Barb's hat did not work out... |
This pattern was linked from the AHA website directly.
First thing I noticed is that the pattern calls for baby weight yarn... that is fine and all, but the charity asked specifically for medium or heavy weight.. and since that is already what I was working in I had to make a few gauge swatches to fix that issue before I could start.
To make the hat the right size, without changing yarns, I had to find the right hook for the job. I started with a 5.00mm hook and the 9 sc gauge swatch was larger than the 2inches that it was supposed to be. Working down from there in hook sizes I found that a G/4.25mm hook produced the correct 2 inch gauge.
I also did a simplified round 1 by doing a magic circle and 10 sc into it and continuing from there. I got all the way to round 7 when I realized two things: 1) even thought I can still follow the pattern with my yarn and hook, the yarn is so much thicker than baby yarn that that it started doing this odd wave thing because it was so tight in increases and 2) I could not keep going and expect it to fit a human baby like it ought. Bummer, but we all learned something today: don't use normal weight yarn on a baby yarn pattern, even if you can get the gauge right.
So new pattern.
Button Flap Beanie KINDA...
Now I know I cannot use a button as the charity also requested that we refrain from embellishments or buttons or things that might be a choking hazard... BUT I know that I can simply stop this brim before the flap part and just have it be a nice ribbed brim, kind of like when I did my stripe slouch hat.
Once again I got to round 7 and did not like where the pattern went after that. Round 7 makes the flap, goes back around the hat and then turns and goes back the other way. Since I didn't want the flap part I stopped there and made up the rest myself based on that striped slouch hat pattern.
I did two more rows of dc around after 5-6, for 7-8.
The next few are for the brim which is worked perpendicular to the hat.
Row 1: Ch 7. Working in BLO, sc in the 2nd ch from hook and each ch. (6 sc) Sc2tog in the next 2 set-up row sts. Note: Do not sc the one you were just in but the next two open sts! This is the “securing st” that attaches the vertical brim rows to the horizontal last row. Do NOT ch, turn.
Row 2: Skipping the securing st, sc in the BLO evenly. (6 sc) Turn.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc in BLO evenly. (6 sc) Make securing stitch. Turn.
Row 4 – 40(or the beginning): Repeat Rows 2 – 3
To close the brim at the last row, bind off leaving a long tail and whipstitch the first and last rows together, working in the back loops of the first row to maintain the ribbed appearance.
Weave in ends.
OK now that I have two hats done... and still more than half this skein left, it is time for one more pattern. This time I am going to make it up based off a cross double crochet stitch that I just ripped out of a blanket swatch. Well call it the:
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| The small holes are from the X stitch. |
R1. MC chain 3, 11 dc into mc. (12)
R2. Ch3, 1dc in first stitch, 2dc in every stitch around (24)
R3. Ch3, 2dc in first stitch, *1dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next stitch* (36)
R4. Ch1, 1 sc around (36)
R5. Ch 3, skip one sc and dc into next dc, go back and dc into one you just skipped, then go forward 2 for the next dc, then go back one into the one you skipped. Do this around. Should make kind of an X stitch out of the two dcs (36)
R6. Ch 1, sc around (36)
R7-12: Repeat 5-6 thrice more
R13. Ch1 and 1sc in first st. * 1sc in each of the next 8sts. 2sc in the next st. repeat from * around. Slip stitch into the top of the first sc to join. <40>
R14. Ch 3, 1dc around all. Bind off.
So go forth and make a few if you have a bit of spare time and spare red yarn. You've got the rest of this month to submit to AllFreeCrochet to enter to win, and the rest of the year to send directly.
Knitters: there are patterns linked for you as well all the websites, so please join in!
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| The three finished hats. |
So go forth and make a few if you have a bit of spare time and spare red yarn. You've got the rest of this month to submit to AllFreeCrochet to enter to win, and the rest of the year to send directly.
Knitters: there are patterns linked for you as well all the websites, so please join in!
